WINDOM -- Twin brothers Lee and Jake Holt combined for 46 points Saturday evening, leading the third-seeded Windom Eagles to a 71-56 victory over sixth-seeded Jackson County Central in the quarterfinals of the Section 3AA South high school boys' basketball tournament.
The win by the Eagles (15-10) advances them to the sub-section semifinals and a meeting with a second-seeded Fairmont. The Cardinals (21-5) defeated seventh-seeded Pipestone Area, 82-48, at Fairmont Saturday.
Windom and Fairmont will play at Jackson Thursday at approximately 7:30 p.m. -- following the opening semifinal matchup between top-seeded Worthington (18-6) and fourth-seeded Luverne (14-10), which is scheduled to tipoff at 6 p.m.
The Trojans defeated eighth-seeded Saint James, 85-43, at Worthington Saturday and Luverne advanced with a 58-51 victory over fifth-seeded Martin County West at Luverne.
JCC's Zach Copley (13 points, nine rebounds) scored the game's first basket at Windom, but Lee Holt (26 points, eight rebounds) quickly followed with a bucket and then Jake Holt (20 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks) followed with a pair of strong inside hoops and Windom had a 6-2 lead.
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A bit later, Jacob Johnson fired in a 3-pointer for the Eagles, stretching the lead to 9-4 and triggering a 9-0 Windom run.
With less than six minutes played, the Eagles held a 15-4 advantage.
But the Huskies, who started three sophomores and a pair of juniors, rallied with an 8-0 run of their own -- capped by an inside basket by sophomore reserve Nolan Hohenstein (assist Taylor Christopher) slicing the gap to 15-12 at the 8:44 mark.
That was the closest JCC would come, however, as Windom finished the half by scoring 21 of the next 34 points and taking a 36-25 advantage into intermission.
Jake Holt, a left-handed 6-5 senior, finished the first half with 18 points, while Lee --- who converted a three-point play after a strong offensive rebound, giving the Eagles a 22-14 lead with 6:26 on the first-half clock --- scored 11 timely points prior to intermission.
The right-handed Lee Holt, who is listed at 6-3, connected on a 3-pointer to open the second-half scoring and then netted Windom's next eight points, helping the Eagles maintain a double-digit lead, 47-35, with less than 12 minutes remaining.
JCC came within nine, 48-39, when 6-5 sophomore Jon Harmening (10 points, seven rebounds) scored off a nice pass from 5-10 sophomore guard Shadrack Wacker.
But, the Eagles quickly countered with Collin Lovell's second 3-pointer of the game and Jake Holt's only basket of the second half to earn a 53-39 lead with 9:38 to play.
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Wacker passed to 6-3 sophomore Darnell Taylor-Breck (nine points, three steals) for a basket, but Windom's Andy Pfeffer, a 5-8 junior guard (four assists) sank a pair of free throws and the Eagles maintained a 14-point cushion, 55-41, with 7:52 on the second-half clock.
Pfeffer, who handled the ball for the Eagles and drew a key defensive charge, dropped in two more from the line at the 4:20 mark, which made the score 60-45.
A long press-breaking pass from Jake Holt to Johnson for an easy layup, increased Windom's lead to 62-45.
But the Huskies, sparked by nine second-half points by Copley and eight from Christopher (12 points, three assists) rallied in the final minutes, trimming the margin to 65-56 on back-to-back baskets by Hohenstein (eight points) with 1:25 remaining.
The Eagles, however, iced the victory on a 6-0 run, as Lovell (11 points) scored twice on assists from Lee Holt and Johnson sank a pair of free throws, helping Windom finish the game 71 percent (15 of 21) at the line.
Windom outrebounded JCC by a 40-34 margin and the Eagles shot a fine 48 percent (26 of 54) from the field.
JCC 25 31 -- 56
Windom 36 35 -- 71
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JCC (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Christopher 1-4-1-12, Wacker 0-1-0-2, Hinkeldey 0-0-2-2, Harmening 0-4-2-10, Taylor-Breck 1-3-0-9, Copley 0-4-5-13, Hohenstein 0-4-0-8. Totals 2-20-10-56.
Windom (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Pfeffer 0-0-5-5, Johnson 1-1-2-7, L. Holt 1-9-5-26, Lovell 2-2-1-11, Remmers 0-1-0-2, J. Holt 0-9-2-20. Totals 4-22-15-71.
Luverne 68, MCW 61
LUVERNE -- Luverne's boys' basketball team knocked off Martin County West in the first round in the South Sub-Section quarterfinals in Section 3AA Saturday.
Devin Heitkamp led the way for Luverne (14-10) with 25 points and seven rebounds, while Brandon Klein chipped in 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists and Brett Heronimus added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals.
Luverne will take on top-seeded Worthington Thursday at Jackson County Central.
MCW 25 36 -- 61
Luverne 29 39 -- 68
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BOLD 53, T-M-B 49
BIRD ISLAND -- Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's boys' basketball team led throughout the Section 3AA quarterfinals until BOLD hit a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to give it a 50-49 lead.
Parker Lanoue led T-M-B (11-14) with 12 points and six rebounds, while Jake Orren added 11 points and five rebounds, Taylor Hoffbeck had nine points seven rebounds and three assists and Mason Van Essen scored three points and 10 rebounds.
T-M-B 29 20 -- 49
BOLD 22 31 -- 53
